Catching Up

Time to catch up

Days are never dull even if we are spending a lot of hours cruising as we head north for a stop in St Augustine to visit our mail in Green Cove Springs.  Yesterday we found the bar in the Melbourne Harbor channel – Tow Boat got us off by rearranging the sand making it no surprise that the channel is hard to find.  The tow boat maneuver is interesting.  He tied on to us closely and revved up his engine to dig a hole under us then pulled us off into this hole, thus rearranging the bottom once again.  We read and the towboat operator confirmed he does almost daily in this channel if not more often….  While we enjoyed our walk in historic Melbourne this constant channel fluctuation makes the entrance and exit plenty of fun. 

In the end it did not delay us more than an hour and we got to Titusville with ample time for a walk into town.  While groceries are basic in the SavAlot the Café Chocolat and the Sunshine Bakery make this a must stop.  The café boasts handmade chocolates sold by the pound – if you dare – reasonably priced and tasty meals like “Half of Everything” 9.75 (which includes a mini appetizer, salad, sandwich and dessert bar) Then there are the desserts - pure nirvana.  Even with my help Steve could not finish his portion of chocolate lovin’ spoon cake – more a slab of fudge than cake.  We managed to take some home for a midnight snack.

This morning our pilot house depth sounder has decided not to work just as we cleared the Haulover Cut which was dotted with manatee pools. We slowed to watch these graceful beasts frolic and found no depth signal as we resumed and made the turn. Thankfully we have the upstairs back up and finding a fix keeps the big guy busy, exercised and awake.

As a result, our stop in Daytona Beach included a run to the Post Office which turned out to be in a beautiful Beaux Arts historic building in the heart of downtown.  The service was excellent as we shipped our malfunctioning DSM back to its source for we hope a speedy repair or replacement.  

This unintended shore stop was an easy dink ride south to a lovely dock in Manatee Park a half block from the shops on the main drag – and that unique Post Office. The street seemed devoid of pedestrians but the shops were quaint – although with a heavy emphasis on biker gear and the mild temps made sitting in the sidewalk café tables a pleasant option, but we headed back to the boat for our early start on the (hopefully uneventful) run  into St Augustine – Bridge of Lions mooring field.